The Left parties should ask the UPA government to amend the Indo-US nuclear deal to safeguard the interests of the country, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said today.

"It is not a simple political issue. It is an issue concerning the country's sovereignty and democracy," Naidu told a press conference here.

Slamming the Left parties for not mounting pressure on the government to agree to a debate on the nuclear deal in Parliament and flaying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [Images] assertion that the agreement cannot be debated, Naidu shot back "when US Congress can discuss, why not our Parliament?"

The Left parties have hitherto been applying "speed brakes" on the UPA government, Naidu alleged and demanded that these parties now apply "power brakes" to provide adequate safeguards or prevent the implementation of agreement.

"This is an acid test for Left Parties. Whether they will stand by the country or will they be guided by their political considerations," he said.

"What is that the communists have achieved so far while holding key position in government. They did not get any benefit for the working class," Naidu said.

On Left parties' assertion that they had no intention to pull down the UPA government, he said "who asked them to bring down this government. We want this government to continue and become unpopular."

"BJP will not topple this Government", Naidu said.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has misled the nation and betrayed the country's interest. The Congress bowed down before US pressure and now they are taking a ridiculous stand," he said.

"It has become a fashion for Left parties to raise issues and point towards BJP as a ghost," he said, criticising the attitude of the parties.

BJP is determined to safeguard the interest of the country and will take this issue to its logical conclusion, he said, refusing to divulge the strategy the party has formulated.